


Snakes and Ladders

by WhatIfYouFly



Series: Home is a place on earth [2]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Board Games, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, M/M, No Sex, Post-Canon, South Downs Cottage (Good Omens)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24561499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatIfYouFly/pseuds/WhatIfYouFly
Summary: The weather is atrocious, forcing Crowley and Aziraphale to stay in for a board game night. It goes about as well as you would expect.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: Home is a place on earth [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766803
Comments: 7
Kudos: 48





	Snakes and Ladders

“No, that can’t be right…”, Aziraphale picked up a small yellow figure and placed it on one of the different cards that were splashed out in a complicated geometrical pattern on the carpet in front of him. With furrowed brows and a look of steely determination he pushed his reading glasses up his nose and consulted the little booklet again. “Good, _place the yellow mage figure on the woodland card with the number 3_ \- done that - _and roll the green dice to determine the position of the purple fishing hut_ \- what dice?”

Crowley made a noise that sounded not unlike a severly wounded animal. “Give it _here_ , angel, you’re making it way too complicated!”

“No, I’ve almost got it now”, Aziraphale said firmly while holding the booklet out of the demon’s reach. “It says here…”, he looked lost for a moment, “Ah, here: _chapter 2b, preparation of the secondary game board_ …”

“2b? 2 _b_?? Wait a minute, angel, how many chapters are there to these blessed instructions??”

***

What could have been a nice day for a picnic or a walk had turned into a cold, rainy mess around noon, leaving all outdoor plans in shambles. After some back and forth, Aziraphale had managed to talk Crowley into finally clearing out the old wardrobe on the first floor that one of the previous owners had left in the cottage. It was a massive and ancient construction of dark wood and sturdy metal fittings and Aziraphale’s first words upon seeing it had been: “If you stumble too deep into this thing, you’ll probably end up in Narnia!”

Crowley had not picked up on the reference and, after a half-hour lecture by Aziraphale, had slightly regretted asking. By the time he went to bed that night, a stack of colourful children’s books had appeared on his bedside table.

All that had been months ago and without the atrocious weather on this particular afternoon, the wardrobe and its contents would probably have remained undisturbed.

Even _with_ the atrocious weather they almost did because the clean-up campaign had been abandoned within half an hour when Aziraphale had emerged from the depths of the cabinet with a big, slightly battered box that read “The Legend of the Magic Woodlands”.

“Look at that”, he had said with an expression like a child that has found a shiny pebble at the beach.

“What is it?”, Crowley had asked, leaning his head to the side to look past the armful of junk he had just plucked out of the closet.

“A board game, dear, like chess. Humans play them all the time.”

Crowley was perfectly aware of board games but had dreaded even chess since its invention. When asked about it, he said he found it boring but that was only half of the truth. In reality, he also lacked the patience and concentration it required. It was not a problem of intelligence. He could simply not see the appeal of sitting down for hours to think about the best strategy to move pieces of wood across a table. Only occasionally, when Aziraphale had suggested it, he had stooped to sit down at the old chessboard at the bookshop with him. In these instances, the fiercly competitive angel sitting opposite him in his cute, cosy cardigan, had not helped his concentration either.

The angel in question, on the other hand, loved board games. For him they fell into the same category as books and magic tricks, in other words nifty activities humans had invented to pass the time and challenge each other’s cleverness.

***

This particular board game was a completely different beast altogether, though.

Almost an hour had passed since they had opened the box and the carpet was barely visible under the amount of cards, dices and pieces anymore.

Aziraphale was still busy with the instructions. Not that he would have ever admitted it but it was clearly visible that his enthusiasm had been on a steady decline for a while.

Crowley was laying flat on his back. His expression was one of utter defeat and he was absent mindedly throwing one of the dices from hand to hand. 

Almost simultaneously both sat up and looked at each other.

“I’m gonna pop down to the basement real quick, angel. I need alcohol for this… LOTS of alcohol.”

“Oh, alright, dear. I was going to the kitchen just now - I think there might still be a scone left from breakfast…”

***

A few minutes later Crowley climbed up the stairs with a bottle of wine and almost bumped into Aziraphale who was just emerging from the kitchen with a cup of tea and a plate with the leftover scone.

Both looked rather pleased with themselves as they headed back to the living room together.

The mess they had left behind just a few minutes ago was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, a simple game board was laying on the carpet, innocently.

“What would you say to a game of Snakes and Ladders, angel?” - “Sounds lovely, dear.”


End file.
